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7. Descriptive Texts
McMurrey 1983 defined descriptionas a term used rather loosely in ordinary conversation and it is used to explain person, place or things with
providing sensory details. McMurrey 1983 also says that description is often combined with other kinds of writing, especially narration. The goal of description
as stated by McMurrey 1983 is to enable the reader to visualize a person, place or thing and the details must be provided as many as possible.Descriptive text also
has its generic structure as stated by Hammond 1992 as cited by Mursyid n.d.. There are two main parts of the generic structure: Identification and Description.
In identification, the phenomenon to be described is identified and in description, the phenomenon is described by parts, qualities, characteristics and etc.
Besides generic structure, descriptive text also has its language features as
stated by Hammond 1992 as cited by Mursyid n.d.. They are: 1Descriptive texts focus on a specific participant.
The examples are my favorite public figure, my beloved pet, and etc. Descriptive texts are made to describe one thing in
detail.2Descriptive textsuse simple present tense. Simple present is used in
descriptive texts because simple present tense explains general truth. Azar and Hagen 2009 define the simple present tense as follows.simple present expresses
events or situations that always exist. The writer may use simple past tense if the thing to describe does not longer exist.
3 Descriptive textsuseverbs of being and having. The examples are:
My pet is really lovely. It has a soft beautiful white fur. Verbs of being and having make some relational processes in the descriptive texts. Therefore, the descriptive
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texts may be coherently composed. 4 Descriptive textsuse descriptive adjectives.
The examples of descriptive adjectives are white fur, strong legs, and black hair. Descriptive adjectives or attributive adjectives enable the writer to
clearly describe the condition of item described. 5 Descriptive textsuse detailed noun phrase.
The examples of detailed noun phrase arevery outstanding performance, sweet young lady, and etc. The purpose of using detailed noun
phrase is to give information about the subject.
6Descriptive textsuse action verbs. The purpose of using action verbs
is to explain material processes such asIt eats flesh, It runs slow.6Descriptive textsuse adverbials.
The purpose of using adverbials isto give additional
information about the behavior of the object of description such fast, at tree house 7 Descriptive textsuse figurative language.
Figurative language is used to clearly describe the object of description. The kinds of figurative language are
simile, metaphor, personification and etc. Another use of figurative language is to compare the object of description with something else. One example of figurative
language is John is white as chalk.
B. Theoretical Framework
This research wasan error analysis on SMP PangudiLuhur Yogyakarta seventh grade
students‟ descriptive texts. The researcher proposed to conduct an error analysis to investigate
students‟ errors and find the possible causesof the students‟ errors. The researcher chose error analysis as a way to investigate errors
in descriptive text. The researcher also employed some theories which are stated
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